Saving our cities: Avon, Cold Spring get expert advice on community development

Deb Brown is a nationally renowned community development specialist from Iowa and a co-founder of saveyour.town. She spoke at TEDxBrookings. See the video at youtube.com/watch?v=pzwBdRAUKlE.
TEDxBrookings

A group toured downtown Cold Spring with Deb Brown, a nationally-known community development specialist, on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Brown suggested cleaning up empty buildings, outside and in, to make them more appealing to buyers and renters.(Photo: Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com)

A group toured downtown Cold Spring with Deb Brown, a nationally-known community development specialist, on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Brown suggested recruiting master gardeners to help tend to community property.(Photo: Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com)

The community also had an empty-buildings tour, highlighting the buildings' history and potential, "instead of hiding them," Brown said.

"Within two years, 10 of the 12 buildings on the tour were full," she said.

Since then, she has tried to foster that community building spirit within other small towns, along with Becky McCray, who has a similar passion. The team offers articles, webinars, tool kits and in-person visits to help towns help themselves.

That's how she got to Cold Spring and Avon.

The Initiative Foundation funded Brown's trip, said Michelle Kiley, the foundation's community development program manager. The foundation had additional funds available through its Thriving Communities Initiative program.

Brown spent several days in Central Minnesota learning what the communities want to improve and giving suggestions of how to do that.

Both communities knew they had the passion.

"We want to give future generations a reason to come back home," said Reva Mische, an economic development coordinator for Cold Spring. "There is so much pride in our community, and now we would like to ... take action."

"Folks who come here tend to stay here and are committed to making Avon great," said Jodi Austing-Traut, Avon city administrator and clerk, in her community's video application.

While several communities applied in writing or with a video, the foundation was limited by Brown's availability. Kiley hopes the foundation will able to bring Brown back to the area if funds are available.

A group toured downtown Cold Spring with Deb Brown, a nationally-known small town economic development guru, on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Brown asked the group how the City Hall parking lot could be improved.(Photo: Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com)

Where do you start?

"First of all, every town is different," Brown said.

So first, she listens — first to the community leaders and then with the people.

"The rest of the time I spend going to businesses and coffee shops, talking to as many people as I can, to find out what they want in town and what they like," Brown said.

Brown shares stories about what other communities have done. She stresses taking very small steps toward larger goals.

You want downtown to be more friendly? Start by power-washing an empty building, she said.

Of course, residents have different ideas of what a thriving community looks like, and whether growth or change is a good thing.

"But everybody wants a town that is successful," Brown said. "They want businesses to be doing great businesses, they want the community to be happy, to have things to with kids, to be a safe environment."

An outside perspective

Brown comes in as an outsider, which shakes up the status quo discussion. There are always people who don't want anything to change.

"They are the committee of negativity, the ones with nothing really good to say. They're always complaining about something. Usually, that's 5-12 percent of your community," Brown said. "I just try not to talk to those people. They provide no value for me. I"m in town to work on helping them ... create the community they want."

Her presence gives residents anonymity.

"It's an opportunity to be very up front and open with her about where they are with the community," Kiley said.

Small towns can easily get a small group of people who do everything, or make all the decisions.

She suggests allowing volunteers to participate in smaller chunks of time, instead of expecting people to serve on committees all year long. Brown hates meetings anyway.

"You meet to do nothing. You meet to talk about meetings," she said.

Instead, meet to do something. Clean out an empty lot while planning for the next month's downtown decorations.

Brown talks about how to recruit more and different volunteers. Some of that means giving up control, she said.

"You're letting someone else step in with another idea ... to do something different," Brown said.

The informality can make people nervous.

"It's going to be crazy and chaotic and that's OK," Brown said. "The big insight into getting more volunteers, is that with more volunteers, you need less formal organization."

It may sound counter-intuitive.

"Actually, it's not. We're no longer in 1950, when the only way to talk is through written letters. It was important to have people organize in the typewriter era," Brown said. "In the smartphone era, we can share and cooperate without needing a formal organization. It's right in our hand. We do it in our personal life."

She talked about a group of moms in a small Oklahoma town.

"They wanted updated playground equipment, so they made it happen," Brown said. "They didn't go to the city. They just made to happen."

Reassessing through failure

Not everything is going to work.

A group toured downtown Cold Spring with Deb Brown, a nationally-known community development specialist, on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Brown suggested cleaning up empty buildings, outside and in, to make them more appealing to buyers and renters.(Photo: Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com)

"Failure isn't a bad thing. It's an opportunity to test what you're doing and what you're working on," Brown said. "The good ideas work, the bad ideas don't."

What happens when you do fail?

"Step back, take a look at what didn't work, and try to make that a little bit easier to work with and you try again," Brown said.

Create opportunities for people to try out ideas and encourage participation.

"Finding volunteers the idea-friendly way replaces being in charge. You're not telling people what to do. You're giving them the tools and getting out of the way," Brown said. "Let the community build what the community wants."

Those initiatives will last a lot longer.

Getting creative, letting go

Rural areas make perfect testing grounds for innovative business models, she said.

For instance, one Minnesota town was struggling to keep its grocery store.

"So they ran it a little more like Anytime Fitness, membership model," Kiley said. Customers enter the store during reduced hours and do self-checkout.

Another common idea is decorating downtown to highlight the season.

"You gather a group of people excited about the idea and you take the smallest particular piece," Kiley said.

Instead of raising money to buy decorations city maintenance staff will have to install, maybe go smaller.

A group toured downtown Cold Spring with Deb Brown, a nationally-known community development specialist, on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Brown suggested adding community murals on large blank walls, like the ones at Thrifty White Pharmacy.(Photo: Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com)

Get permission to decorate trees along a street, for example. Pick a theme and give each person or group a tree to decorate. You let go of uniformity, but you get community building instead.

For instance, one might decorate a tree to their mother who died last year, but loved the fall. A kindergarten class make take another tree.

What about the money?

Formal organizations can be more secure from scams, fraud or theft. Brown agrees steps should be taken.

"The old days are gone. You cannot trust everybody," Brown said.

There are some things individuals and businesses can do, even in loosely organized groups. She recommends businesses and organizations take out insurance on their own employees. Also, do an audit every year.

Whenever you're fundraising as a group, make more than one person responsible for the money, she said.

She also says to use the technology available. Get card readers, attack them to a smartphone and collect money via credit cards to a secure place, like a bank account.